SMILING at home surrounded by her family, little Blisse Mellens looks the picture of health.

But behind the happy grin, the blue-eyed tot has a combination of incurable brain bugs that mean she can suffer a debilitating 10 epileptic fits a day.

Without treatment the figure can be even higher – she once suffered 17 in 24 hours.

The tragic one-year-old is so unwell she can NEVER be left alone – her fitting is so serious it could kill her. While she may live to adulthood, she is unlikely to survive past 40.

The youngster suffers from two rare brain conditions – polymicrogyria and Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia, which trigger her epilepsy.

Her parents, who live in Barry with Blisse and six-year-old daughter Nevaeh, only discovered there was something wrong after they took her to see a doctor when she began twitching at four months.

Mum Laura said: “Her fits get worse every week. She stops breathing when she has them. Her bad ones are tonic-clonic seizures. She then goes a blue-black colour.

“Those fits never stop on their own. She has to have emergency medicine that you give her at five minutes. It’s heartbreaking, because you are just waiting for her to come back. You’re thinking, ‘Will I lose her?’

“You’re constantly on edge every minute of every second of every day. Some days she might go a day without a fit – but then you’re waiting for it.”

During fits, Blisse’s body can become stiff. Moving her could break her bones. The infant – who cannot sit up and may never be able to talk – is already on a cocktail of drugs.

For her epilepsy, Blisse has to take 1,000mg of Vigabatrin, 300mg of Rufinamide, 60mg of Lamotrigine and 250mg of Ethosuximide. She also usually needs three or four doses a week of Midazolam – used to bring her out of seizures.

Blisse also takes antibiotics and a drug to dry her mouth as she cannot swallow. She is fed through a tube in her stomach and eats a specially tailored diet.

Dad Ashley, a business analyst with British Gas, said: “She had one seizure where she stopped breathing. All her limbs just went dead and she felt lifeless. It felt like an eternity, but it must have been a split second. It felt like she had gone.”

Blisse was born five weeks premature after Laura caught swine flu. This is not thought to be linked to her conditions.

Dr Daniela Pilz, medical genetics consultant at Cardiff’s University Hospital of Wales, has helped treat Blisse, researching her brain problems, as little is known about them.

She said: “They are a significant cause of epilepsy and learning difficulties. Feeding problems can also occur. These grey matter abnormalities cannot be cured, and the long- term prognosis depends on the severity of the medical problems.”

These can vary from case to case. Dr Pilz said: “Polymicrogyria is the most common anomaly of the grey matter of the brain and it has many different causes, some of which are genetic, but most are unknown.

“Polymicrogyria occurring with Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia is very rare, and no cause is known.”

Blisse now has a place at Ty Hafan, the Sully hospice that offers respite care for terminally ill children. Laura, who suffers from intestinal illness Crohn’s disease, is “not under any illusions” about Blisse’s condition.

“I’m frightened, but I’m also optimistic,” she said. “If I didn’t have hope then what would be the point? I hope that one day she will sit up.

“I’m not under any illusions that the fits will stop completely, but I’ve got to hope they’ll get less severe. And if they don’t, we’ll have to cope.”

Ashley, 29, tries not to think too much about the problems. “It’s my way of coping with it,” he says. “I’m not an emotional person that thinks about the good or the bad. We’ve got Blisse and I wouldn’t change her for the world. She’s one of the most beautiful babies in the world.”